Powell vs. Howard Part III: Seton Hall set for rubber match with Marquette

Date: March 15, 2019

By: Frank Frasco

This is the matchup the Big East has been waiting to see, as the No. 2 seed Marquette Golden Eagles take on the No. 3 seed Seton Hall Pirates at Madison Square Garden tonight.

To put it simply, this will be Myles Powell vs. Markus Howard. The latter player, who was named Big East Player of the Year on Wednesday, had himself another tremendous offensive outing on Thursday night. Howard dropped 30 points on 8-for-15 shooting and a perfect 11-for-11 from the charity stripe in a dominant win over St. John's. When asked about his personal performance, he dished it right back to the team and praised the role players that have been influential in this team's success all season.

"They really got us off to a great run," Howard said. "Sam [Hauser] and Joey [Hauser] really were aggressive to start and it kind of opened things up for me. We knew that coming into this tournament, it was a new season, so we had to have a clear mind."

A clear mind is exactly what the superstar needs to have, as his six point outing the last time he faced the Pirates was led by a defensive stronghold by Quincy McKnight.

The Pirates, on the other hand, had their unanimous First Team All-Big East selection come into this game having scored an average of 29 points per game in the last five crucial games of the season. Powell had a tremendous outing against Georgetown, shooting over 50 percent from the field to total a historic night of 31 points, including a Big East Tournament record 29 points in the first half.

The big question tonight for Seton Hall is the identity of the number two scorer the Pirates desperately need. Myles Cale finished the game yesterday with 14 points, but his mid-range shot in the second half was shaky. The Pirates will need to continue to come out firing on all ends of the court, especially coming up against a Top 25 nationally ranked team that is eager for redemption.

A split season series. No. 2 against No. 3. Powell vs. Howard. It doesn't get better than this. Tune into WSOU 89.5 FM as Dagen Hughes and Matt Ambrose will give you the call inside "The World's Most Famous Arena."

Frank Frasco is an Assistant Sports Director at 89.5 FM WSOU. He can be reached at frank.frasco@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @ffrasco13.